Many homes in both rural and urban areas have a mailbox or newspaper tube that is located some distance form the home. this, of course, requires the resident to exit the home, walk to the mailbox or newspaper tube, retrieve the mail or newspaper and then return to the home.
While this can be a pleasant task, it can become onerous in inclimate weather. While this can be unpleasant for some, it can be extremely difficult for an elderly or handicapped person, especially in bad weather.
For this reason, the art has included several devices that are intended to visually indicate that mail, or a newspaper, has been placed in the mailbox or in the newspaper tube, see for example the devices disclosed in U.S. Pat. Nos. 3,958,752 and 4,492,335.
While devices such as these work well in daylight, if the ambient light is extremely low, due to a weather condition or the like, such devices are nearly useless. For example, many newspapers are delivered early in the morning, and in the winter, this delivery may occur while it is still dark. The homeowner may want to retrieve the paper but cannot determine if the paper has been delivered. A trip to the newspaper delivery tube early in the morning on a cold winter morning may be extremely difficult for a handicapped person. However, these devices are still useful for sunlit conditions and should not be totally ignored.
Therefore, there is a need for a mailbox or newspaper delivery tube signalling system that can be used in bright sunlight conditions as well as in low light, or no light conditions, such as at night.